Commercial aircraft with in-flight catering services commonly have one or more galleys installed on the aircraft that have a supply of potable water supplied under pressure, as well as water drainage for waste water. The potable water may be used for making beverages, such as for tea and coffee, for example, and for cooking, such as in steam ovens, rice boilers, and the like.
It has previously been common practice to rely solely upon conventional galley insert or galley appliance water heating systems that typically draw electrical power from the aircraft to heat such potable water in a galley insert or galley appliance for making beverages or cooking. It also has previously been common practice to rely solely upon conventional aircraft cooling systems to cool air chiller exhaust air and galley insert or galley appliance exhaust air before such exhaust air is vented into the environmental control system of the aircraft or temperature sensitive areas of the aircraft.
It would be desirable to provide an air to water heat exchanger that reduces aircraft power consumption by using waste heat produced by one or more air chillers and galley inserts or galley appliances, such as a refrigerator, oven, water boiler, electronics, and the like, to raise the temperature of potable water supplied for use in the aircraft. It would also be desirable to provide an air to water heat exchanger that cools exhaust air from one or more air chillers and galley inserts or galley appliances, to benefit an aircraft environmental control system or temperature sensitive areas where such exhaust air may be vented. It would also be desirable to provide such an air to water heat exchanger that optionally can be implemented as fixture in the potable water supply system, and to supplement conventional galley insert or galley appliance water heating systems, that is independent of a galley faucet drinking water supply, and that can be filtered independently of a galley faucet drinking water supply. The present invention meets these and other needs.